Israel Farewell to killed hostages - Netanyahu swears revenge

While Israel bids a bitter farewell to the hostages recently killed in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been criticized by the bereaved, vows revenge. He announced that Hamas would pay a "very high price" for the murder of the six Israeli hostages whose bodies were discovered last week in an underground tunnel in the south of the Gaza Strip. According to media reports, the Israeli Ministry of Health stated that the hostages had been shot at close range around 48 to 72 hours before the autopsy.

"Israel will not let this massacre pass", Netanyahu said at a press conference in the evening. He apologized to the families of the dead "that we did not succeed in bringing them back alive". He himself has been heavily criticized because relatives of the hostages accuse him of having condoned the deaths of the abductees through his uncompromising stance in the negotiations with the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas.

At his press conference, Netanyahu once again insisted that Israel's military must retain control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, an approximately 14-kilometer-long strip on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. "We will not give up the Philadelphi Corridor," he reiterated. This was a strategic and political necessity for Israel, he said.

"This guy has now torpedoed everything with one speech"

However, if Israeli troops remain in the area, an agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza war and a release of the hostages, who are still being held by the Islamist Hamas, is likely to be extremely difficult. Both Hamas and Egypt are demanding that Israel withdraw its soldiers. Together with the USA and Qatar, Egypt is mediating between Israel and Hamas, who do not negotiate directly with each other as a matter of principle.

The mediation talks continued by telephone even after the six bodies were found, a US government representative involved in the negotiations told CNN. However, Netanyahu's press conference had virtually destroyed the efforts: "This guy has now torpedoed everything with a speech," the government representative was quoted as saying.

US President Joe Biden, who continues to hope for a hostage deal, also criticized Netanyahu. When asked whether the Israeli Prime Minister was doing enough to reach an agreement, Biden replied during an appearance in Washington: "No." Nevertheless, a final agreement on the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas was "very close". Asked what led him to this assessment after the many unsuccessful attempts to reach a deal, Biden replied that hope dies last.

President asks for forgiveness

At the funeral of the slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Israeli President Izchak Herzog spoke at the invitation of the family. In his eulogy, he also asked for forgiveness "that we did not succeed in bringing your Hersh back alive". Herzog said that Israel's decision-makers were now faced with an urgent task: "To save those who can still be saved."

Islamist Hamas fighters abducted the US-Israeli Goldberg-Polin from the Nova music festival in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. He was only 23 years old.

New orders for hostage guards

A spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, spoke in the evening of "new orders" to the guards of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip in the event that Israeli troops approach their hideout. The fact that the Israeli government obviously wanted to free the hostages through military pressure rather than by concluding an agreement would result in "them returning to their families in coffins".

Hostage video published

Hamas published a propaganda video in which the kidnapped Eden Yerushalmi can still be seen alive before the Israeli military discovered her body in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip last week. According to the Times of Israel newspaper, the 24-year-old's family agreed to share a short sequence of the video. In it, the young woman says, according to the translation: "A message to my family that I love: I miss you, father, mother, sister Shani and May. I miss and love you all so much." In similar cases, Israel has accused Hamas of psychological warfare.

Demonstrations for hostage agreement

At demonstrations in several parts of Israel, thousands of people demanded an agreement on the release of the hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip. Protests also took place near Netanyahu's home a few hours after the funeral of a hostage who had been killed, with several thousand people taking part. "Your decisions lead to her death", Israeli media quoted from the speech of a man whose brother is still being held by Hamas. There are also new calls for demonstrations on Tuesday.

During the day, employees of many organizations and authorities had already gone on strike - in protest against the slow progress of negotiations over the release of the 100 or so hostages still believed to be in the Gaza Strip, although it is unclear how many of them are still alive. Many cities and municipalities joined the protest, while others refused to do so because they are closer to the government. A labor court finally ordered an early end to the strike on Monday afternoon on the grounds that it was politically motivated.

SDA